Whatcom estimating how many will be eligible for COVID vaccination under expanded 1B-2
More people than originally planned will be offered the opportunity to get vaccinated in the next step of the state’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, Gov. Jay Inslee announced Thursday afternoon, March 4.
Inslee said he expects the state to move to the expanded next tier March 22, assuming supply keeps ramping up.
On Friday, March 5, the state reported it averaged administering 45,221 doses of vaccines the past seven days — for the first time topping the Department of Health’s daily goal of 45,000.
The Whatcom County Health Department hopes to have an estimate on Monday, March 8, for how many more county residents will be eligible to receive the vaccine once the state moves to Phase 1B-2, it told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
The expanded second tier of Phase 1B, under Inslee’s plan, will now include workers over age 16 in settings such as agriculture, grocery stores and law enforcement. People over age 16 who are pregnant or who have a disability that puts them at high risk will also be eligible, according to Inslee’s office.
The governor announced the changes at a virtual press conference Thursday afternoon and offered a tentative timeline for next steps. The timeline, he said, it based on estimates from the federal government and manufacturers along with the state’s experience.
“I feel pretty confident that the supply chain will remain as we have estimated,” Inslee said.
The governor’s office expects an expanded Phase 1B-2 will make eligible “critical workers who work in certain congregate settings,” according to Inslee’s office, as well as pregnant people and those with disabilities that put them at high risk.
Workers in the tier include those in agriculture, food processing, grocery stores, public transit, firefighters, law enforcement and workers in prisons and jails. It does not include restaurant workers. The state has yet to determine where they’ll fall in the queue.
Previously, Phase 1B-2 included “high-risk” critical workers 50 and older who work in certain congregate settings. The “high-risk” and age group restrictions are no longer part of the tier.
By April 12, the governor’s office expects to start moving into Tier 3, which includes people age 16 and older with two or more comorbidities, or underlying conditions, that put them at higher risk for severe illness if they’re infected with COVID-19. That includes heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
Department of Health guidance links to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s list of conditions that put people at increased risk. It includes cancer, chronic kidney disease, heart conditions, obesity, smoking, and Sickle Cell Disease, among other conditions.
Inslee expects the state will be able to expand eligibility to people over age 50 in that category on the 12th, then expand to include everyone in that category over age 16 on April 26.
—Sara Gentzler, (sgentzler@mcclatchy.com) contributed to this story.
Vaccine update
Here is the latest on who is eligible for the COVID-19 virus vaccine and where you can get it in Whatcom County. The information is frequently updated as vaccine availability changes.
The Washington State Department of Health allocates vaccines it receives from the federal government based, in part, on reported need and providers’ ability to properly store and distribute doses. These allocations are going to state clinics and county clinics, private and public health care clinics, and pharmacies.
For the week of March 1, the state Department of Health allocated 11,030 first vaccine doses to Whatcom County and 1,900 second doses, the Whatcom County Health Department reported. That is a 334% increase from the 2,540 first doses and a 123% increase over the 5,810 total doses the County was scheduled to receive last week.
Due to an increase in weekly allocations, the state Department of Health Friday said it has been able to provide “more and more vaccine to our partners across the state.” Washington’s 3-week forecast from the federal government helps the agency develop a multi-week strategy that supports consistency and predictability. The forecast is subject to change as vaccine availability from the federal government may change.
▪ Week of March 7: 309,770 total doses (163,660 first doses, 146,110 second doses)
▪ Week of March 14: 320,300 total doses (163,660 first doses, 156,640 second doses)
▪ Week of March 21: 327,320 total doses (163,660 first doses, 163,660 second doses)
“Although we are moving in the right direction, we still are not able to provide all the doses our providers request. Next week’s allocation is about 100,000 fewer doses than our providers requested,” the agency said.
Who is eligible for vaccination
Washington state is allowing vaccinations by phases. Check yours online.
Those in phase 1B, tier 1, have been eligible for vaccination since Jan. 18:
▪ All people 65 years and older.
▪ People 50 years and older in multi-generational households where they live with and care for their parents or a grandchild.
▪ People who are over 50 and unable to live independently, who either receive long-term care from a paid or unpaid caregiver or are living with someone who works outside the home.
▪ Under the direction of President Biden, Washington state announced it added educators and licensed childcare workers to Washington state’s Phase 1B-1 group Tuesday, March 2, and they can seek appointments immediately.
Not eligible in this phase are people younger than 50, people over 50 who care for a partner or friend, or any parent or guardian caring for their small child or teen.
Previously and still eligible for vaccination from phase 1A:
▪ High-risk health care workers.
▪ High-risk first responders.
▪ Residents and staff of congregate living settings, such as nursing homes.
▪ All other workers in health care settings who are at risk.
Next up, but not yet eligible, will be tier 2 of phase 1B, which includes:
▪ Critical workers who work in certain congregate settings, including agriculture, food processing, grocery stores, public transit, firefighters, law enforcement, and workers in prisons and jails.
▪ Pregnant women and those with disabilities that put them at high risk.
Gov. Inslee announced plans to move to this tier beginning March 22.
Where to get vaccinated
As of Friday, most of these health care systems have an appointment-only process and those seeking appointments should do so online.
Some have said they will reach out to qualified patients themselves. Many sites were seeing phone systems overloaded with those seeking vaccines and ask people not to call to inquire about getting their shots.
Vaccine supply remains limited.
▪ Associates in Family Medicine: Says its vaccine supply remains limited. It asks people to fill out a form online for contact when more doses are available.
▪ Family Care Network: Is providing the Moderna vaccine and will schedule appointments for its established, specific, high-risk patients in eligible tiers as supplies become available. It is not maintaining a waitlist.
▪ PeaceHealth: Vaccine appointments are available only for community health care workers and PeaceHealth Medical Group patients who are eligible based on Washington state guidelines. Patients whose medical records (age, medical conditions) indicate eligibility will be called or emailed about scheduling an appointment. PeaceHealth is not maintaining a waitlist. St. Joseph hospital has cold-storage facilities that allow it to receive the Pfizer vaccine. It also receives the Moderna vaccine.
PeaceHealth said Monday it is expecting to receive enough shipments of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines the week of Feb. 28 to March 6 to provide approximately 4,440 first doses of the Pfizer vaccine and more than 1,500 second doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
PeaceHealth reported it is collaborating with the Whatcom County Health Department and is contacting other health care providers in the area that serve vulnerable populations to help identify eligible vaccine recipients in the 1A and 1B1 phases.
“We anticipate that these entities will supply PeaceHealth with a list of eligible patients who will, in turn, receive a phone call from PeaceHealth to schedule an appointment,” PeaceHealth’s weekly vaccine status statement says.
“These eligible patients will join PeaceHealth patients who are 77 years of age or older and who have a relationship with a PeaceHealth primary or specialty care provider. As in previous weeks, PeaceHealth patients will be notified through the PeaceHealth patient portal or via a phone call. PeaceHealth will continue to reduce the age limit throughout the week, reaching out to eligible patients following the same notification process.”
▪ Sea Mar: Has a first-come, first-served walk-in system, but check availability online first. As of an update at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sea Mar had no vaccine available at its Bellingham Medical or its Everson Medical locations, nor in its Skagit and Snohomish county locations.
▪ Unity Care NW: The health care provider continues to say that its vaccine supply remains “very low” and that it will contact eligible patients to schedule vaccinations when it receives doses.
▪ Department of Health map: It can be found on a website that lists some vaccine providers in Whatcom and other parts of Washington. Because vaccine supply is very limited, the featured providers may not have vaccine or may be fully booked.
The map is at covidvaccineWA.org.
Only providers that want to be are listed, and those listed have changed since last week. Also new is information on whether the listed providers have vaccine appointments available, although not all providers are updating the availability information in a timely manner.
In addition to Associates in Family Medicine, the list for Whatcom County now includes Costco on Arctic Avenue; Ferndale Pharmacy on Alder Street; Fred Meyer on Lakeway Drive; Haggen on Woburn Street; Mt. Shuksan Family Medicine and Dermatology on Cornwall Avenue; Sea Mar Bellingham Medical on Cordata Parkway; Unity Care Northwest-Bellingham on Unity Street; Safeway on Guide Meridian Road; Nooksack Valley Drug on East Main Street in Everson; Sea Mar Everson Medical on Hannegan Road; and Unity Care Northwest-NWHC on Portal Way in Ferndale.
Of those, only Bellingham Unity Care and Safeway were listed as having available appointments as of Friday afternoon, March 5.
▪ Federal pharmacy program: The federal government has started to send vaccines directly to retail pharmacies to create new access for people who are eligible.
In Washington state, participating pharmacies include Albertsons Companies (Safeway, Haggen and Albertsons); Costco; and Health Mart Independent Pharmacies.
Albertsons officials said its in-store pharmacies started giving vaccinations on Feb. 11, adding that people can check for appointments at one website, mhealthappointments.com/covidappt. A check on Friday, March 5, showed that appointments were being scheduled for the first of two-dose vaccines (Pfizer or Moderna), but there was no availability for the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The state said that more chain pharmacies in Washington are joining the program because allocation is expected to increase. The pharmacies are Walmart, Rite Aid and Kroger (Fred Meyer and QFC).
Check whether Rite Aid is scheduling vaccine appointments at riteaid.com/pharmacy/covid-qualifier.
Pharmacies also can receive vaccines from the state Department of Health.
Government sites
▪ Whatcom County: A mass COVID-19 vaccination effort will be launched by a coalition of Whatcom County health care providers and the health department in March, provided there is vaccine supply, public health officials said.
“Our intention is not to compete with providers who have relationships with their patients and who are trying to get those folks in for appointments but to allow for more broad-based vaccination efforts,” Erika Lautenbach, director of the Whatcom County Health Department, said to the County Council during a COVID-19 briefing on Feb. 23.
Public health officials and Whatcom providers are getting ready for the clinic, which will be at Bellingham Technical College. More details are coming, officials said.
▪ Skagit County: The Health Department has set up a mass-vaccination site at the fairgrounds in Mount Vernon but vaccinations depend on vaccine supply.
Last week, Skagit County Public Health reported registering 600 people on Saturday for first doses — the same number of first doses the site received the week before. More appointments will likely be available at approximately 9 a.m. Saturday, March 6, when the county is informed of its next allotment, according to the county’s vaccine website.
Online registration is closed at https://www.skagitcounty.net/Departments/HealthDiseases/coronavirusvaccine.htm, but appointments will be added if spaces become available.
▪ Washington: The state is offering large-scale vaccination in Spokane, Ridgefield, Wenatchee and Kennewick. They are open by appointment only to people who register and are eligible for the vaccine phase.
One-stop help
Volunteers have stepped forward to help people find vaccines or find them easier. Both are online.
▪ CovidWA.com is compiling just about all of the available vaccine appointments throughout the state, according to a KING 5 story. Users type in their zip code to get the information, and they may have to travel to get their shots.
▪ Find a COVID shot WA, a private group on Facebook, has what it calls “search party volunteers” that help people find appointments if they post using #searching. It has nearly 26,000 members.
The group also focuses on obtaining vaccine appointments for those most affected by COVID-19 — people with disabilities, those who are 70 years and older, people with limited English, and those who are Black, Indigenous and people of color. Vaccine seekers in these categories post using #support.
In addition, Whatcom County residents trying to find vaccine appointments but who don’t have a computer or internet access are being advised to call the state Department of Health toll-free hotline at 1-800-525-0127, then press #.
Hotline hours are:
▪ 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday.
▪ 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and on observed state holidays.
Whatcom vaccination report
Friday’s vaccination report said that as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, March 3, Whatcom County had administered 41,500 37,753 vaccinations — an increase of 3,747 vaccinations (up 9.92%) from Wednesday’s report. Vaccination data is released Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The state estimates that 15.67% of the county (or 35,257 residents) has received its first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 7.85% of the county (or 17,662 residents) is fully vaccinated. The number of vaccines given and people vaccinated may not match, according to the dashboard, because people may be vaccinated in counties other than where they live.
Quarantine guidance for vaccinated
According to a Washington State Department of Health release, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that fully vaccinated people exposed to someone with COVID-19 do not need to quarantine if:
▪ They have been fully vaccinated and are two weeks beyond received their second dose of the Pfizer or Modern vaccine or two weeks beyond receiving their single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
▪ Received their last vaccine dose within the past three months.
▪ Have not had COVID-19 symptoms since their exposure.
Those who do not meet all three criteria should follow current quarantine guidance after exposure, the release states. Also, anyone who is an inpatient or resident in a healthcare setting should continue to quarantine.
“Fully vaccinated people should still watch for symptoms for 14 days after their exposure, continue to wear masks, practice social distancing, and keep their social circles small,” the release states.
About the vaccines
Vaccines approved and currently available in Washington are:
▪ Pfizer: Requires two doses 21 days apart; authorized for people 16 years and older; 95% effective.
▪ Moderna: Requires two doses 28 days apart; authorized for people 18 years and older; 94.1% effective.
▪ Johnson & Johnson: Approved by the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup Wednesday and first shipments are expected this week. Requires only one dose; authorized for people 18 years and older; 66.9% effective.
The CDC provides more information about the vaccines.
This story was originally published March 6, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
